Emergency Center

Welcome to the emergency center at Lawrence General Hospital. If you are in a life threatening emergency, please call 911. Trained emergency medical personnel will take you where you need to go.

Emergency centers have a national reputation for long waits, especially those who have the highest technical capabilities. Here's what to expect regarding "wait times" at Lawrence General.

Rapid Medical Evaluation

This is designated for patients with health concerns that we judge can be quickly treated and discharged home, without even going to a bed. These patients see a specific provider in our Emergency Center and the total length of stay is usually shorter than for our regular emergency patients.

Wait time (time to completed triage by a registered nurse)

When
you arrive you will be greeted within minutes by a nurse, who will speak with you about your
condition, and make an assessment about the level of medical treatment you
need. That concludes with a judgment about laboratory testing or imaging
procedures that might be required to determine a course of treatment for you.
In some cases these processes can be started before you are assigned to a bed.

Waiting for Care

No Wait: Patients with severe trauma or chest pain, for example, have life threatening conditions that must be seen immediately. They can’t wait. We count on our other emergency patients to understand the reason for this.

Variable Wait: Once you have been evaluated by a triage nurse, if they determine you do not have a life threatening emergency, average weight times to see a doctor and receive treatment vary based on your level of illness. We understand you are in the Emergency Center because you are uncomfortable and even frightened, and we will do our best to keep you as comfortable and reassured as possible while you are waiting. Contrary to what you might think, longer wait times are actually good news, because it means your illness is not judged to be threatening to your life. We are confident you will agree it is reasonable to expect the sickest patients go to the front of the line.

Waiting for Admission: About 15 percent of our Emergency Center patients need inpatient hospital care. There are times when emergency patients have to wait in the Emergency Center for an inpatient bed. While this process can seem inconvenient, the important thing is that you are receiving the care you need while you wait. Because the Emergency Center is part of the hospital, you have access to whatever care is necessary while we prepare your room.

The Lawrence General Hospital Emergency Center is a busy,
regional trauma center seeing the Merrimack Valley’s most serious illnesses and
injuries. Our doctors and nurses are specially trained and certified to care
for these critically ill patients. Whether it’s multi-system trauma caused by an
automobile accident, a major heart attack, or the many less critical illnesses
and injuries we see, we are prepared to respond and provide the care needed for
each person who comes through our doors. Our facility provides 41 private care
spaces, in rooms organized in care pods, according to patient need. Trauma has
its own area, as does Pediatric Emergency.